Speaking at length in response to yesterdays DWA article on Project Africa, episode hunter and Doctor Who fan extraordinaire Ian Levine has commented on Phil Morris, Paul Vanezis and the hunt that returned Enemy of the World and Web of Fear.
Over to Ian:
“I want to publicly and sincerely apologise to both Paul Vanezis and Phil Morris for anything that I said in anger, way back in 2009. I still do believe that I should not have been so totally left out of a program about missing Doctor Who episodes, not when I returned twenty personally, plus lots more on behalf of other people, including Paul Vanezis. But I must confess that what I said at the time was both spiteful and unfair.
As the Missing Episodes Forum threads can bear witness, I have ALWAYS believed in Phil Morris and originally did everything that I possibly could to get him started. In 2009 yes I was most certainly fuming at being harshly left out of that BBC Radio Four documentary which rewrote the facts. But that was in 2009, and indeed it seems that Phil had not found any actual Doctor Who episodes at that stage, unless I am very much mistaken.
But yes, it is a true fact that I did indeed believe in him nearly ten years ago, when no-one else did, and in fact many of the hypocrites were mocking his suggestions, which made me angry at the time, and so I then met up with him and and got him the paperwork that he needed originally. And introduced him to Paul Vanezis.
But since that awful Radio program, four more years have passed, and now, like the miraculous fountain of life, Phil has turned up the largest single haul EVER of missing Doctor Who. And statistically, going forward, if he ever finds over 11 more missing episodes, then he will have officially overtaken my total over the years.
Up till now I never once publicly discussed my being his first contact, and I do have to say that I am so so proud of him and think of him as a kind of incredibly successful protege. I do deeply pray that he finds lots more, and in fact it is my firm belief he already has done.
I WANT him to be the number one episode hunter of all time, I pray that he finds and returns another eighty episodes, and I am more proud of this man Philip Morris than I have ever been as proud of anyone else for anything, throughout my entire life. He is a genius and I just can’t begin to thank him enough for the pleasure he has brought to us.
I am only making any kind of statement, in response to the above article, because I was challenged to make one. I would not say or do ANYTHING to upset Phil Morris, because I believe he holds the answer to all our hopes and dreams in his hands. I still pray he gives us the opportunity to see Marco Polo, The Massacre, The Myth Makers, and Power Of The Daleks, even though I have resigned myself to the sad fact that my all time favourite story, The Daleks Master Plan, can never be found.
And so I must conclude by saying that we all owe the most MASSIVE debt of gratitude to Phil Morris, and as long as we get to see them in the end, none of us can object to the way he chooses to release the rest of his wonderful miraculous find.”
DWA thanks Ian Levine for providing these comments to us and we wish him all the best.
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